Mr. Woodcock
by Craig Gillespie
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DVD details
Actor: Billy Bob Thornton, Seann William Scott, Susan SarandonDirector: Craig Gillespie
Brand: NLV
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); English (Original Language)
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 87 minutes
Published: 2008-01-01
DVD Release Date: 2008-01-15
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: New Line Home Video
DVD Reviews of Mr. Woodcock
DVD Review: The funniest movie of the 21st century . . . just kidding
Summary: 2 Stars
The other day I watched "Good Luck Chuck" and gave it two stars, but now that I have seen "Mr. Woodcock" I feel like I should go back and give the other movie three stars so it will not be on the same rating plateau as this absymal film. I know, I know: I could accomplish the same goal by giving "Mr. Woodcock" one star, but I reserve one star ratings for films where I think the people who made it should be hunted down and done physical violence (and, yes, I have found a couple of those), and with this film I just want to ask the cast what the hell were they thinking when they agreed to make this 2006 "comedy." The one thing I can say in defense of this film is that if you are getting sick and tired of the raunchy comedies that having been dominating the cinematic landscape from "There's Something About Mary" to "Superbad" (you can usually tell them because they are inevitably released as "Unrated" editions on DVD), then rest assured that "Mr. Woodcock" fails to fall into that company.
The premise seems workable enough. John Farley (Seann William Scott) returns in triumph as a successful self-help author to his hometown in Nebraska only to discover that Jasper Woodcock (Billy Bob Thornton), the gymn teacher who tormented him unmercifully in school, is now dating his mom, Beverly (Susan Sarandon). To be clear, Beverly is John's mother and not Jasper's mother, although that twisted situation might have been an improvement. John and his old school chum Nedderman (Ethan Suplee) and everybody working at the local fast food restaurant know that Woodcock is a wretched human being, so Beverly has to be saved from a fate worse than death. The other main supporting players are Maggie Hoffman (Amy Poehler), John's pushy agent, and Tracy (Melissa Sagemiller), another one of John's former classmates who serves as a romantic prospect. She never really becomes more than that because this film is all about John trying to breakup his mother and Woodcock.
The best parts of the movie take place in gym class, where Mr. Woodcock throws basketballs at this students, demands pushups and laps for any and all infractions, and tries to drive home exactly what a "rhetorical question" happens to be. As far as sadistic gym teachers go, Mr. Woodcock is pretty much presented as just doing his job. If anything, he is so indifferent to the physical and mental punishments that he is dishing out that you really have to downgrade him from sadist to overgrown bully. There is a perverse pleasure to be gained in watching Woodcock abusing his students because you sit there and think that this guy is going to get his comeuppance. I am probably on the verge of a spoiler here, except that I can make the argument you cannot spoil something that is already rotten.
Director Craig Gillespie's film falls apart in the final act, where things come to a head and we are force fed what passes for a happy ending. There is a point where things turn "serious," and I just had to role my eyes because it was way too late to pretend that logical rules were supposed to be applied to these relationships. Thornton and Sarandon are way too good for this, and Scott is apparently trying to convince us that this is all he is good for as an actor (after "The Rundown: and "Bulletproof Monk" I would have predicted a better future than this for Scott). In the end, the movie this reminds me most of ended up being "Anger Management," which should make sense in retrospect. To be fair, this movie does have a totally appropriate punch line, which is delivered not once but twice as the last word in the film and in its end credits.
Description of Mr. Woodcock
Synopsis:Item Type: DVD Movie
Item Rating: PG13
Street Date: 01/15/08
Wide Screen: yes
Director Cut: no
Special Edition: no
LanguageENGLISH
Foreign Film: no
Subtitlesno
Dubbed: no
Full Frame: no
Re-Release: no
Packaging: Sleeve Please note: This supplier will be closed on 11/24, 11/25, 12/26, 1/2 for the holidays. The shipping cut off is 12/10 to try and have the products delivered by Christmas.
Rhetorical question: What?s the only thing that can keep a potentially bad movie?s head above water? Good actors, or course. Sure, the Dodgeball-esque scenes of Billy Bob Thornton viciously pegging second-graders with a basketball are chuckle-inducing (It appeals to the America?s Funniest Home Videos lover in all of us), but the movie didn?t quite live up to the promising plot. John Farley (Seann William Scott) plays a bestselling self-help author who was once a portly underachiever often bullied and terrorized by his militant (and potentially lawsuit-causing) gym teacher, Mr. Woodcock (Thornton). When he?s invited to receive his Nebraska hometown?s most coveted award, the corn cob key, he decides to pay his mother (Susan Sarandon) a visit. With horror, he discovers that she?s planning on getting married to the sinister Mr. Woodcock. And, of course, the rest of the movie shows John?s unraveling as he tries with all his might (and "corny" predictability) to stop that from happening. The movie provides some good laughs, but it?s definitely on the B-list for the likes of these hilarious starring actors. --Jordan Thompson
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